The then teenager was visiting his Island home while on leave from the British Army to see friends and family and as a trainee with the Royal Engineers he knew that if his link with the armed forces was discovered, he would be deported and imprisoned and to avoid capture he burned his official papers, his uniform and buried its metal buttons two feet deep in a field.
Through family connections he was able to acquire new documents, which did not show any connection to the British Army, and he settled down to help provide for his family.
He turned 16 in October 1940, but was effectively the head of a large house as his father, Gabriel Pierre Marie Faucon, a veteran of the First World War, had volunteered to fight once again and Mr Faucon (junior) lived with his family in Wellington Road and, among other things, tended three allotments owned by his uncle to help put food on the table.
Now 91, Mr Faucon, who was in Jersey for this year’s celebrations, remembers being on duty outside the Pomme d’Or Hotel on Liberation Day where he was able to watch the British forces arrive and on that day 71 years ago he helped to pass out sweets and cigarettes brought in by soldiers and was also given the job of maintaining a reasonable degree of order as thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate freedom.
Read a full interview with Mr Faucon in Monday’s special Liberation Day edition of the JEP.
